A researcher has developed a plant-based meat substitute that's made with a 3D printer

A reddish paste is introduced into the 3D printer and through a nozzle, a meat-like replica can be made.
Giuseppe Scionti

Nova Meat has developed a synthetic, 3D-printed meat that can mimic the texture of beef or chicken.

Researcher Giuseppe Scionti, through his Barcelona-based company, developed the meat substitute using vegetable proteins that imitate protein complexes found in real meat.

Scionti is slowly working towards having a steak substitute developed in the not-too-distant future.

While it might sound like something out of a science-fiction movie, Giuseppe Scionti — the researcher behind Nova Meat — has managed to figure out a way of printing meat using vegetable proteins and a 3D printer.

In an interview with Business Insider, the researcher explained that for over ten years, the specialist in biomedicine and tissue engineering has been working on bioprinting various synthetic tissues: from artificial corneas and skin to artificial ears.

Now, as a compromise somewhere between insect proteins, lab-made meat, and total abstinence from meat of any form, the researcher has developed a new form of synthetic meat with 3D printing.

Nova can produce synthetic meat that resembles beef or chicken

A prototype piece of veggie chicken breast (below), next to a piece of real chicken breast (above), being cooked in a frying pan. Giuseppe Scionti

It was only last November that Scionti launched his company, Nova Meat. Though it's still in the early prototype stages, the Italian researcher's synthetic fillet imitates the texture of beef and he also makes fake chicken.

The texture is precisely the factor that's most difficult to perfect with regards to synthetic meat: "It has a fibrous texture," explained the entrepreneur, "not like that of a hamburger."

This isn't the first time, however, that an attempt has been made at producing an alternative to meat that is less damaging to animals and the environment. Meat can be grown in labs is made using animal-cell cultures from fetal bovine serum, which requires slaughtering a cow and its embryo.

Other varieties of synthetic meat like Impossible Burger are also made with vegetable proteins, but as Scionti said: "They may taste like meat but they have the texture of hamburgers."

Printing 100 grams of veggie meat costs just under $3

According to Scionti, the difficulty lies in rearranging the nanofibres of the plant proteins so they imitate the structure of animal proteins.

Scionti makes the fillets from a reddish paste he introduces to his 3D printer — through a nozzle attached to the end of the printer, he sculpts a piece of synthetic meat.

At the moment, printing 100 grams of vegetable meat costs just under $3, but as the process heads towards industrialisation and commercialisation, the price will decrease as volume produced increases.

Better still, through obtaining amino acids from pea and rice protein, the fillet also has the nutritional properties of a beef fillet.

It's also environmentally sustainable

The Nova Meat 3D printing process. Giuseppe Scionti

"I used raw materials that don't have a negative impact on the environment," said Scionti, "I tried not to choose, for example, avocado or quinoa, as increasing the demand for foods that need to be imported would have a detrimental impact on the environment."

The only thing that currently seems to be lacking with the synthetic meat is that it's missing the flavour of real meat — and to fix that, Scionti has already begun looking at partnering up with chefs.

Last August, the Italian also gained approval for a patent on his product: "The patent is on the microstrain that imitates the natural structure of meat tissue," he said.

The market is growing — as is the number of competitors

The front of The Vegetarian Butcher, a shop that sells vegetable-based products designed to mimic the taste of real meat. The Vegetarian Butcher

There are already alternatives to meat made in labs — such as Memphis Meat, Meuse Meat or Just Meat — or with vegetable proteins, like Impossible Burger and Beyond Meat.

According to Scionti, those made with lab-grown meat have made significant advances in the appearance of meat while those made with vegetable proteins have more nuanced flavors — and the market is only growing bigger.

Even Unilever has made developments in the field by collaborating with The Vegetarian Butcher, a company that sells vegetable-based products designed to mimic the taste of real meat.